Talha’s Wedding

Weddings have a very central place in the Pakistani society. Last weekend I got to attend one. Although having only known Talha for just about two weeks, we got along really well and he invited me to his wedding. This was quite a surprise for me, and although his wedding was in Karachi, this was an invitation I just couldn’t say no to. Not only did I get to see a Pakistani wedding, I also got to see Karachi, one of the biggest cities in South Asia.

City of contrasts

I booked a seat on the Saturday morning flight to Karachi, in order to have time to look around in the city for a while before going to the wedding at night. In fact, nobody knows how many people live in Karachi. It could be 12 million, more likely 15 or even more. The city has grown tremendously during the recent 50 years and The Economist ranked Karachi as the world’s fourth least livable cities in a sample of 132. It is probably the poorest city I have ever seen. Many of the streets in the middle of the city were even without asphalt and there were crashed and worn out cars left at the road shoulder. In between the cars and people, goats were walking around looking for food in the piles of garbage left on the street. But the city isn’t all poverty and misery; compared to Islamabad it is an extremely lively city and it’s said that it that never goes to sleep. The shops open in the afternoon and keep open during until late night.

Signing the Nikka

Luckily the wedding took place at a club in one of Karachi’s better areas. Upon arrival I was swiftly directed to the right side of the party; I was soon to learn that women and men were strictly separated into two different tents. The first part of the wedding ritual, the Nikka, was for our man, Talha, to sign the official wedding documents in front of the family’s witnesses and the rest of the male audience. I don’t know if it’s called wedding documents, but I think the designation is descriptive enough.

After the signing of the documents, prayers were initiated and soon after the audience were welcomed to the podium to bring their congratulations to the groom. Talha’s cousin and I walked up, greeting him before making funny remarks that he looked really sweaty, “-is it really that hot Talha?” In fact it was. The temperature in Karachi can very well hit more than forty-five centigrade on a good summer day. Add the humidity and voila; you’re a lobster in a pan. Coming from a cold country up north I still appreciate the heat; I am still thinking the warmer the better. At least in Islamabad, most days are sunny and I wake up, look out the window and think, “what a lovely day!” I make my way to work and by the time I get there I am soaked by sweat and it’s just refreshing! The only thing hotter than the temperature is the food.

Eating the Tikka

For dinner we had traditionally Pakistani; curry enriched by chicken tikka, rice and naan.After the dinner it was time for me to leave, it was already quite late considering that the ceremony didn’t get started before almost 11pm. Although the evening was over, the wedding wasn’t more than half way through; Saturday night the bride’s family acted as the hosts, while on Sunday night the groom’s family acted as hosts, symbolizing that the groom is first going to his wife’s family, before bringing her over to his.

Same Procedure

As I woke up Sunday morning it was just another lovely day so I went for a walk to look around in the neighborhood of the hotel in which I was staying. Although Karachi may not be much to boast about at daylight, the picture is slightly different during the night. It’s called the city of light, which may however contribute heavily to the frequent load shedding all over Pakistan. Anyway, same time as the previous night I took a pool car out to the same club, housing the second night of Talha’s wedding. Why change a winning team so the evening proceeded with a dinner like the night before. I came back to the hotel quite late that evening, and if I hadn’t fallen asleep during the Euro 2008 final I wouldn’t have slept at all before getting into the car taking me to Karachi International Airport.

Impressions piling

A fashionable Pakistani wedding and contrasting poor back streets of Karachi, it’s probably most impression filled weekend I have had since going to Pakistan. Thanks for inviting me Talha, it was a great experience, I wish you and Javeria a long and happy life together.